EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:1 Ezra Discovers and Confronts the Problem of Intermarriage. Ezra discovers that the Jewish community has mixed with idolatrous non-Jewish groups in religion and in marriage. He leads the community in repentance and in a systematic separation from the foreign women and their chil... [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:3 Ezra mourns that the “holy race” has compromised its newly won salvation by returning to the sins that had brought judgment in the first place. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:4 TREMBLED AT THE WORDS OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL describes eagerness to obey God and respect for his holiness (see Isaiah 66:2). ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.getElementsByTagName("img"); for (var i=0, len=images.length, img; i [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:6 Ezra confesses for the community, beginning with the historic sins of Israel that had led to the Babylonian exile. OUR INIQUITIES... OUR GUILT. These two strong terms are each repeated twice. Ezra knows that his people had deserved to be exiled because of their sins. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var... [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:7 THE DAYS OF OUR FATHERS. The time before the exile (see Zechariah 1:4). The terms SWORD, CAPTIVITY, PLUNDERING, and SHAME sum up the disasters experienced for failing to keep the covenant. They also bring to mind the consequences for disobedience noted in Leviticus 26:14 and De... [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:8 FOR A BRIEF MOMENT, that is, for the time following Cyrus’s edict, Israel has enjoyed God’s FAVOR. It has actually been nearly a century, but that is “brief” compared to Israel’s long history. Ezra refers to the returned exiles as the REMNANT, as does Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:2; se... [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:9 WE ARE SLAVES. The exiles remain under the authority of PERSIA (see Nehemiah 9:36). Even so, God has shown the STEADFAST LOVE that characterizes his covenant with Israel. He expects the same from Israel in return (compare Hosea 6:6). JUDEA. See note on Ezra 2:69. ⇐ ⇔ [ Continue Reading ]
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 9:10 Ezra alludes to Deuteronomy 7:1 and the community’s unlawful intermarriage. IMPURE... IMPURITY... UNCLEANNESS. The indigenous people’s way of life and worship is totally incompatible with the life and worship required by the holy God of Israel. ⇐ ⇔ ⇒ var images = document.get... [ Continue Reading ]